The invention is directed to a method and to a telephone network according to the preamble of patent claim 1 or, respectively, of patent claim 12.
The present invention is directed to a method for switching telephone connections and to a telephone network for switching telephone connections according to the method.
Modem telecommunication services or network operators offer their customers more and more supplementary services that are intelligently administered. The geographical coordinates of a subscriber is information that is of significance for such supplementary services in many cases. In a number of important services, such as those performed by taxicabs, service trucks, plumbers, etc., it is necessary or at least advantageous to know the location of the subscriber. Whereas the geographical coordinates of the subscribers already represent an important information source in for example, mobile radiotelephone, particularly in the GSM network here, this information was hitherto not made available in a useable way in a fixed network. The reason for this is that only a rough geographical position, for example a neighborhood, can be derived from the telephone number of a subscriber in the numbering system that is typically employed. Since developments are proceeding such that a telephone number is no longer to always be allocated to a specific connection or telephone set that is always located, at a specific location but to the customer as a person, the previous informational content of the telephone number with respect to the geographical position, which is only limited anyway, is lost.
Further there is the tendency to pack a great deal of intelligent hardware and software into the terminal device (xe2x80x9ccell phonexe2x80x9d) in mobile telephones of, for example, the GSM system, but to keep the complexity in the terminal devices low in devices of fixed networks, including cordless telephone systems of, for example, the DECT systems and to instead integrate the majority of the intelligence into the network.
Service controllers (service control points) are employed in order to offer customized services faster. These service controllers are potentially centralized or decentralized and are described in the following recommendations of the International Telecommunication Union: ITU-T Recommendation Q. 1215 (03/93), General recommendations on telephone switching and signaling, Intelligent Network, xe2x80x9cPhysical Plane for Intelligent Network CS-1xe2x80x9d, pages 1-8.
Canadian Patent Number CA-A-2 160 278xe2x80x94to which U.S. Pat. No. 5,727,057 corresponds, discloses a method for storage, transmission and communication of geographical position data in a telephone network that is supplied by a GPS satellite navigation system (Global Positioning System). The telephone network thereby comprises a switching system that is fashioned for switching the telephone connections dependent on the nature of the telephone networkxe2x80x94for example as central office for a public switched telephone network (PSTN) or as service control point (SCP) for an intelligent network (IN). A number of data banks are arranged offset from the switching system in order to store individual subscriber data, routing information and other data. The other data also includes the GPS position data that indicates the geographical position of the subscriber terminal devices and acts as location information (location ID). Telephone numbers (telephone ID) are unambiguously allocated to the subscriber terminal devices according to a static numbering plan of the telephone network. Services can be utilized for various subscribersxe2x80x94for example, mobile subscribers of a cellular mobile radiotelephone network and stationary subscribers of a wire-bound telephone networkxe2x80x94in that queries of the data banks ensue on the basis of either the location information or the telephone number or a combination of both identities.
The present invention provides a method and a telephone network that enables an improved control of the switching of telephone connections.
Proceeding from the storing of subscriber data in an office to which a service control point is allocated, geographical coordinates for each of the subscriber lines serviced by the office are stored in a coordinate register in the respective office that is arranged therein in addition to a subscriber data register, the geographical coordinates are called given every outgoing and incoming connection in the office and are made available to the service control point together with at least the subscriber data, and the further connection sequence in view of the switching of the connection is controlled dependent on the geographical coordinates received by the service control point.
The present invention provides an additional coordinate system in the exchanges, thus only an adaptation of the signaling system is required for the transmission of the geographical coordinates but does no additional hardware or software is required at the subscriber devices. The additional benefit resulting from the invention thus becomes accessible to all subscribers without additional outlay. Precisely due to the integration of an additional coordinate register into the respective office, the coordinate system is created at the office-side and not at the device-side. The compact and internal arrangement of a coordinate register in addition to the subscriber data register in the respective office effects a low signaling outlay deriving only due to internal communication, for example by automatically attaching a coordinate signal to the standard ringing signal.
In accordance with the invention, it is advantageous that geographical coordinates are compared to geographical comparison coordinates that the service control point stores in lists. In a preferred embodiment, the intelligent services controller conducts modified selection data to the exchange dependent on the result of the comparison.
In another embodiment of the invention, the subscribers can be mobile subscribers whose current geographical coordinates are available to the service control point. Alternatively thereto, the subscribers can be users of cordless telephones in cells of a cordless system whose geographical coordinates are made available to the service control point.
It is expedient when the service control point allows or excludes connections dependent on the geographical coordinates. The geographical coordinates can also be advantageously forwarded to a destination office or a transit office and/or an originating office.
It has likewise proven beneficial when, dependent on the geographical coordinates, a stored announcement is played before the connection setup or instead of setting up a connection or a call forwarding is implemented. Over and above this, one or more switching-oriented events of the connection setup can be activated for the service control point dependent on the geographical coordinates or the subscriber can be connected to an operator.